They'd Need a Ride
by MistyDeath
Summary: When one wants to relax, the unexpected storm is not welcome in the least bit.


**They'd Need A Ride...or Something Like That**

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and all its characters belong to Square Eenix and Disney.

**Inspiration:** We have been having way too much sun and shine in this area. Need to get some more rain around to get some relief.

* * *

The sun was a beautiful thing, Roxas had decided. As he dangled his feet over the edge of small bridge connecting a large pier to the ever bustling downtown of Destiny Islands, the warmth spread over his body and made the blonde tanner by the second. The duo had wanted to bike around downtown on their bikes, and taking advantage of the current trolley system, had thrown the bikes up on the racks for the duration of the trip. His cousin at the time being was wading through the waves on the shore, stopping every so often to marvel at some shell or other oceanic wonder.

Roxas scooted up, just a bit, and proceeded to lie down at the end of their bikes by the racks. One foot lazily tossed off the side and dipping into the water, he closed his eyes. Never before in his life had he been so keen on visiting his cousin up until his aunt had died. The sweet, enthusiastic woman had met her match against a car wreck at the hands of an early driver. Due to the amount of despair his older brother had felt, they had moved down south to be closer to family, hopefully letting a more peaceful setting of sea and sun sink in.

* * *

At first Roxas had protested beyond belief – what kind of disillusioned thought was that? Who were they to escape from their "abysmal" home, where his aunt had so lovingly taken care of them for as long as they remembered? What kind of sick joke were they to play on their emotions by moving down to where sun was forever around, pretending like her death had never happened – did he want to pretend like she didn't exist? After a lovely (see here, disastrous) set of rows that left most of the neighborhood wondering if he and his older brother were deranged, Roxas had conceded.

Thus is how, within two months, the family of two begrudgingly (or rather, stubborn as fuck) packed up and drove down the daylong trip in one day; starting the adventure at midnight. Cloud had driven for a rather large majority, but after downing his third monster somewhere around 6pm, Roxas had recognized a glow in his eyes that reminded him of a crack addict; and promptly kicked the older male to the side and took over. However emasculating Cloud thought the idea of his 17-year-old brother driving the second third of the trip was, he made no note of it and passed out almost immediately. So Roxas had been left with the rather confusingly changing environment that was Florida with nothing but the voice of their GPS, affectionately named "Gladys" by Roxas, and occasional rain.

As the night had gotten darker, Roxas had officially adapted to the insanity that was the two-lane traffic and was about as energized as an owl on crack. Turning onto a street on the opposite side of the highway was a little bit tricky, but was nailed with only a _slight_ offense to another driver. Cloud had woken up at the honking that had ensued, glowered at the offending driver and then told Roxas to hurry the fuck up. Which, after, once the blonde did, he passed out after seemingly assuring himself that they would survive.

They had arrived three hours later, Roxas accidentally waking up the whole neighborhood when he attempted to wake up Cloud, and had hit the horn. He still had a bruise on his cheek from the reaction. So had begun their bad reputation with the neighbors, but also an everlasting tease from both their cousin and aunt, "You guys were just _so_ excited to be here, you couldn't wait!" If the two had lost anything, it was often blamed on the moving process at 1 in the morning. Still, Roxas ended up sharing a rather large room with Sora, and Cloud had gotten the spacious guest room. As neither Strife boy had had a huge amount of things it was done rather quickly (see grabbing the boxes, throwing them in a room and only taking the box with all your cool shit and unpacking it).

* * *

So that was how Sora and Roxas had spent their first night of really getting to know one another, half asleep and extremely excited and anxious. The first night of summer was off to a good start, and so had started the tradition they now kept – taking their bikes downtown and Sora showing Roxas around new areas of the city, where to eat, hang out, etc. The spiky haired brunette had also managed to gain Roxas a small job working with him as an intern for a local business, which kept a good majority of his summer hours behind a desk. On this Saturday, however, it was just relaxation and exploration.

"Sora, how about we go riding through the cobblestone streets over by Central?" The blonde asked while waving an arm in the general direction of where he thought his cousin would be. There was a sound of a splash, and Roxas was soon showered with little droplets of seawater.

"Sora! What the heck -" he shook his head and sat up, turning towards the now grinning brunette.

"Sorry, thought the rock wouldn't splash so much…but yeah, why not. We can try to go find Namine and Kairi for later," said Sora, wading quickly through the water, and then lifting himself up onto the metal bridge where Roxas sat.

Roxas turned towards the bikes and once again felt droplets. "Sora!" He turned around and was met with his cousin's knees. Looking up he saw a rather confused look.

"Don't splash me again!" I mean, honestly-" a shiver soon drowned out his words as a torrential downpour began raining upon the city.

Both of the teens cried out, cursing southern weather and everything it stood for, and hastened to unlock their now ice cold slippery bike locks and rush over to cover.

"F-f-fuck! What the hell, man! What the hell! I thought today was supposed to be clear!" Roxas shouted over at Sora, sloshing alongside him through the rain.

The brunette only gave him an annoyed look and growled when they had reached an intersection – cars were rushing back and forth, only sending waves of water and sand towards them. "Great! Just fuckin' great!" Sora spat, pulling the bicycle back and hugging it close to him as he joined Roxas further back. "Well, there goes our afternoon," Roxas grunted, holding his left arm as close to him as possible – his shirt was soaked through, and at that point he truly did not care that it only made him colder.

Once the light on the other side of the sidewalk went on, the two rushed across, and then to the left towards where the trolley station was supposed to be. As soon as the two got there, they huddled under the stop for cover. Only one other guy was there, also dripping wait and sporting a rather grim scowl upon his face. "Ha…ha…not exactly your expected sunny weather, eh?" Sora panted, shooting a mirthless grin towards the guy. Roxas was currently occupied with figuring out when the next trolley would be arriving.

The other occupant of the booth looked about their age, possibly a little older, with near white, long hair and eyes that shown as bright as the ocean bay. Sora figured the guy would've probably been a sight to see if he hadn't had been caught in the rain. The teen raised an eyebrow, scowl still set in place, at Sora.

"No…not one bit. Not exactly the best weather to have been waiting for a ride, either…" the guy commented. He looked over to where Roxas was staring forsakenly at the trolley schedule.

"You know they stopped about an hour ago, right? Sundays it's only until 1pm for some reason."

Sora looked like he'd been slapped. "Oh shit…how could we forget that? Great. Now we'll need to get the bus…never mind. They're the same service…. Dang it," he mumbled.

Roxas leaned against the glass of the booth on his wet mop of a head."Sora…please tell me you brought your phone," he whispered.

His cousin shook his head, and it seemed as if the spikes in his head drooped along with the realization. This was lovely, really. Trapped in a bus stop booth waiting along for a trolley that wouldn't come, in the middle of a downpour with their house a good ten miles away.

The white haired teen started chuckling, having been in the same situation only two months ago. The other two glared at him. "What? What's so funny about this?" Roxas demanded.

"Nothing…nothing really! Had the same thing happen to me when I first got here – you know, getting overwhelmed by the weather, thinking it'll never get bad?" Two pairs of eyes glanced at each other and then closed shut.

"Yup, we get it. Dumb moment, laugh at us all you want," Sora chuckled while Roxas simply sighed.

The blonde turned and faced the downpour, contemplating what the chances were that they could wait it out. Watching his cousin make small comments to the other teen out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a large red truck pulling up to the stop.

Inside, another older teen sat waiting at the wheel. 'Well, this is interesting,' thought Roxas.

The male driving the car was unsurprisingly dry, and currently sporting a hairstyle that would put even Sora's to shame. Bright, bright red and spiking out in long pieces down his back, the driver was currently switching seats and coming closer to the stop. He rolled the window down and shouted, "Riku! Yo! Get in here, dumbass! This is the last time I'm going to do this, I swear!"

The white haired teen, which now they knew as Riku, turned his head and waved.

"Well, that's my ride. Nice chatting with you two!" He shook his head a little bit to lighten the amount of water in his hair and then leaned over the bench and grabbed his bag.

"Wait!" Sora cried. Roxas walked over, fully prepared to give his cousin an earful on talking to strange people, and save themselves some sort of embarrassment. He'd get them home, somehow. One boot covered foot in the rain Riku turned and looked over his shoulder.

"Hm?" Sora's enthusiastic moment was clearly over. He was currently fiddling with his hands and staring at the ground nervously.

"Um…where do you guys live, or work, or whatever? N-not to be creepy or anything! Just, what are the chances of the two of us hitching a ride home?" Roxas was mentally slapping his cousin for his stupidity.

Another eyebrow had quirked up at that question, and the guy's friend was currently leaning up against his now rolled up window, pointing at his watch.

"Didn't they teach you not to talk to strangers in kindergarten?" he asked, a smirk forming on his mouth.

'Condescending bastard,' thought Roxas. He leaned towards Sora and grabbed his cousin's hand. "C'mon Sor – we can just wait it out or something we don't have to bug-" he interrupted.

Sora shot him a small glare, clearly angry that Roxas may have just ruined their chance of a quick and simple way home. Riku, however, decided to be kind.

"We're over on the west island, how about you two?" Roxas' mood brightened slightly.

"Same, just down Dolphin Drive," he mumbled. Riku's eyes widened. "Well, then, are you two axe murderers?"

He received two blank stares from the drenched teens. Roxas slowly shook his head, shooting Riku a look that clearly questioned his sanity. "Alrighty, hang on," he commented. He walked out into the rain and walked over to the truck, opening the door and tossing his bag in there. The two peered between posters through the glass at the pair, who were currently debating.

"Hey, hey Axel," Riku said, putting his bag on the floor of the truck. His roommate, clearly still agitated at being dragged out of the house on his day off, shot him a look. "What?" Riku gestured towards the booth.

"See those two guys over there? The drenched kids?" Axel leaned on his steering wheel and peered over at the booth. Squished between two posters were two guys who looked to be twins, leaning on top of each other peering at them hopelessly. Axel noticed that both had the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen, and the blonde on the bottom was sporting a rather admirable pout. Hadn't he seen them somewhere…?

"Mmm?" The redhead mused, glancing back at his friend.

"They need a ride. Dumbasses forgot that the bus only runs until one on Sundays," Riku stated.

"And you believe I will agree to this shit when I'm already putting up with you because…?"

"They live on the same street as us. That blonde guy your brother is after? I bet you ten dollars that's his little brother. Besides, you need new friends outside of Demyx and Luxord."

Axel looked at Riku. Then back at the eyes that were currently losing brightness. Then back at his truck with a total of four seats. Then thought back to the last time he had partied and actually not ended up in trouble. He sighed and shook his head. "Sure…they can throw the bikes in the back, I guess. Your dick owes me, man."

Riku smirked, laughed good-naturedly and then closed the door. Briskly walking over to the stop, the teen motioned for Sora and Roxas to bring their things and put them in the back of the truck. Hurriedly wheeling the bikes over and tossing them into the back, Roxas and Sora thanked whatever good grace someone had placed on them. Sora then followed Riku's lead and hopped into the back of the truck with him while Roxas took the passenger seat.

"Ohmigod, thank you so, so, so much! I don't know how long this storm will last!" Sora cried, hunching over and wrapping his arms around his legs. Roxas nodded along as slowly as possible, his hair was currently letting water drip everywhere.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm R-Roxas, and this… is Sora," he introduced himself, holding out a still shivering hand to the driver. The redheaded teen took it, and the blonde was met with the warmest, and possibly most welcome hand he'd ever felt. He shivered involuntarily.

"Alrighty, name's Axel, nice to meet you. Would've that it had been on better circumstances; I hear from Riku you guys are on Dolphin?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, yeah!" Axel had turned the car to the left and began driving along.

"You wouldn't happen to be living with Cloud Strife, would you? Because I swear we've seen each other before," Riku asked.

Roxas quirked an eyebrow at that comment. Surely he would've seen this crazy mass of red hair around their neighborhood?

"Yeah…how do you know that?"

"We're on number 3429, right down the street from you guys then. Lucky for you Riku's as dumb as you two and forgets about the trolley schedule."

When Axel mentioned that, both Sora and Roxas turned to Riku and gave him rather smug looks.

"'Don't you know they stopped an hour ago?' He says, mocking us both," mumbled Sora.

Riku looked a little put out. "'Scuse me for attempting to make conversation to the first person there that wasn't homeless. Next time I'll leave you out in the rain." No other comments were made on Riku's intelligence afterwards.

* * *

The ride was rather peaceful, everyone in the car deciding that the ride seemed a better way to recuperate. Other introductions could be made later, in the comfort of their own homes, possibly with the introduction of video games. They would chat for hours, Sora's mother welcoming the other two into her home with loving arms. Later, Cloud would appear with the redheaded brother Axel had talked about (who they learned would be Reno) and the four of them would be highly amused by the older redhead's attempts to get a rise out of Cloud.

Afterwards when the two left, Roxas would be leaning against a cold window that faced the neighborhood streets, chuckling to himself as he watched both college students sprint towards their house. A slightly crumpled piece of paper with Axel's number on it in his hand, probably to be pinned to his wall later on. The summer wouldn't be end too bad, and later be recalled with fondness and good humor.


End file.
